Baby Started Moving!

Beginning week 13, people began to ask if I could "feel the baby moving."  I was not terribly worried about it, so I would say, "Who knows.  There's a lot of stuff going on in there.  Who can tell what's what?  Could be bad gas.  Could be the kid...."  When I said this, they would invariably look at me funny.  After a brief pause, they would say, "Well, you should begin feeling it move soon."  I never knew what to do with that.  I already have obsessive fears, and their strange reactions just added to it.  So I worried.  Was it normal not to feel the baby move?  I managed to keep the worries in check, though.  I remembered all the materials that said a first-time mother may not feel movement until week 22.  Baby Center reports that women may begin feeling movement from week 16 to 22.  WebMD reports weeks 16 to 25 as the weeks in which "quickening" begins.  Mayo Clinic reports week 20 as the week mothers "may feel" movement.  In short, I had nothing to worry about.  So I tried to go with the flow.

I had my ultrasound on May 31.  At that time, I found out I'm having a boy.  The doctor reassured me that it might be week 22 before I felt movement.  I told her I had felt "something."  I wasn't sure if it was the baby or not.  If it was the baby, it sure didn't feel like feathers--or butterflies.  It felt like quivering jello.  She laughed and said, "Yes, that's the way it might feel."  The next day, I was sitting at home alone on the sofa.  My husband was at work.  I began feeling this quivering movement again.  Except, this time it was very persistent.  And it was in only one spot--the same spot my OBGYN said my little boy's feet were positioned.  Not really knowing if it was him or not (I still wasn't convinced), I jokingly said aloud, "Okay, okay.  I get it.  You're in there."  As soon as I said it, the movement stopped.  About ten minutes later, it started again.  I decided to conduct an experiment.  I said something aloud again.  It stopped quivering.  This continued on for about an hour and a half.  I would give it a ten minute interval, and it would start up again invariably.  So, that convinced me.  I officially felt the baby moving.  He was reacting to sound, which is amazing.  I instant messaged my husband to tell him the good news.  He asked me how I knew for sure, and I said, "Well, gas doesn't usually stop when I talk to it.  Wish it did, though!"